Source:
A Look Into The Future?
(A Hypothetical Timeline of Events)
Note: This is just one website’s guess as to what will happen (and when) during the rest of this century. It is most likely inaccurate about a lot of things. Nonetheless, it should make you think about humanity’s future.
2020-2029 timeline contents
2020-2035 - World oil crisis
2020-2026 – The Euclid Space Telescope reveals new insights into dark matter and dark energy
2020-2025 – Five-year survival rates for Hodgkin's lymphoma are approaching 100%
2020 – Generation X is reshaping global politics | Internet use reaches 5 billion worldwide | The 5G standard is released | Texting by thinking | Complex organ replacements grown from stem cells | A cure for malaria | Progress with longevity extension | Ultra High Definition Television (4320p) is going mainstream | Holographic TV is going mainstream | Africa and the Middle East are linked by a trans-continental bridge | Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway (MTR) has been significantly expanded | The first self-sufficient, car-free city in mainland China | Completion of the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link | The UK has expanded its offshore grid connections | Smart meters in every UK home | Public smoking is banned across every US state | Mercury pollution has been greatly reduced | Glacier National Park and other regions are becoming ice-free | 30,000 drones are patrolling the skies of America | BepiColombo arrives in orbit around Mercury | Video games with truly lifelike CGI
2021-2025 - Manned exploration of near-Earth asteroids
2021 - Global average temperatures have risen by 1°C | Water crisis in southwest USA | The world's largest insect swarm re-emerges | Five-year survival rates for breast cancer are approaching 100% | Male birth control pills are entering the market | The world's first artificial kidney | Mind reading technology is being deployed for security purposes | Fully reusable, single-stage-to-orbit spacecraft | A rapidly changing workforce | Wireless electricity is reaching critical mass | Traditional microchips are reaching the limits of miniaturisation
2022 - The ITER experimental fusion reactor is switched on | Solar grid parity has been reached in almost 10% of the US | Germany phases out nuclear energy | Qatar hosts the FIFA World Cup | China's first space station is complete | The European Extremely Large Telescope is operational | The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope begins full operations | Water is becoming a weapon of war | Global reserves of antimony are running out | Nanotech clothes are growing rapidly in use | Piezoelectric nanowires are appearing in high-end products | Deafness is fully curable
2023 - Mars sample return mission | Asteroid sample return mission | Laser-driven fusion energy makes progress | Turkey celebrates its 100th anniversary as an independent republic | Completion of the London "super sewer" | Brain implants to restore lost memories | A permanent cure for migraine is becoming available | Borneo’s rainforests have been wiped from the map | Gorillas are going extinct in Central Africa
2024 - The biggest refugee crisis in world history | Gay marriage is legal in every US state | African elephants are going extinct in the wild | A cure for the common cold is available for general public use | Completion of the Square Kilometre Array | Petabyte storage devices are available | The first probe to fly into the Sun's outer atmosphere
2025-2035 - Manned missions to the Moon | The Advanced Technology Large-Aperture Space Telescope (ATLAST) conducts its life-searching mission | Mouse revival from cryopreservation
2025-2030 - The threat of bioterrorism is peaking | Hypersonic missiles are in military use | Some of Britain's most well-known animal species are going extinct | Rhinos are going extinct in the wild
2025 - Human brain simulations are becoming possible | Medical nanobots are being developed | China is becoming highly urbanised | Vertical farms are common in cities | Solid waste is reaching crisis levels | Completion of Masdar City | Contact with the Voyager probes is lost | High speed rail networks are being expanded in many countries | A comprehensive overhaul of the U.S. airspace system is complete | U.S. fuel economy standards have improved dramatically | Railguns are in use by the U.S. navy | Stress and anxiety continue to rise
2026 - Aquaculture provides the majority of the world's seafood | Youthful regeneration of aging heart muscle is becoming possible | New treatments for Alzheimer’s disease | Rising sea levels are wreaking havoc on the Maldives | Global reserves of indium are running out | Construction of the Sagrada Família is complete | Robotic hands matching human capabilities | Mars Science Laboratory is shutting down
2027 - The BRICs overtake the G7 nations| Tokyo and Nagoya are connected by high-speed maglev | Carbon sequestration is underway in many nations | Peak coal is reached in China | The Europa Clipper arrives in orbit
2028 - The International Space Station is decommissioned | Printed electronics are ubiquitous |
The UK population reaches 70m | Manned fighter planes are being phased out and replaced with UAVs | Amputees can regrow lost limbs | Resurrection of several extinct species has been achieved
2029 - Human-like AI is becoming a reality | Heavy automation of supermarkets and retail environments | Intelligent advertising | Global reserves of silver are running out | Lake Chad disappears from the map | Madagascar's radiated tortoise is extinct in the wild | The wreck of the Titanic has decomposed
2030-2039 timeline contents
2030 - Global population is reaching crisis point | "Smart grid" technology is widespread in developed nations | The USA is declining as a world power | The majority of new vehicles are plug-in electric, or hybrids | AI is widespread | Depression is the number one global disease burden | India becomes the most populous country on Earth | Full weather modeling is perfected | Orbital space junk is becoming a major problem for space flight | Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE) reaches the Jovian system | A new generation of military helicopters | Hyper-fast crime scene analysis | Emerging job titles of today
2031 - Much of Bangkok is being abandoned due to flooding | Global reserves of lead are running out | Web 4.0 is transforming the Internet landscape | Stem cell pharmacies are commonplace | Married couples are a minority | Chocolate has become a rare luxury
2032 – Britain's ash trees have been wiped out by a fungal disease | Leatherback sea turtles are on the verge of extinction | China's space station is deorbited | 4th generation nuclear power | One-third of Saudi Arabia's electricity comes from solar | Terabit internet speeds are commonplace
2033 - Manned mission to Mars | Mining operations in the main asteroid belt |Peak phosphorus is reached | Hypersonic airliners are entering service | The final phase of Britain's HS2 rail link is completed | Holographic wall screens | Lung disease in China has killed over 80 million by now | Five-year survival rates for kidney cancer are approaching 100%
2034 - Switzerland phases out nuclear energy | Exabyte storage devices are available
2035 - Economic decline in the Middle East | World tin reserves are running out | The Arctic is becoming ice-free during September | Self-driving vehicles are widespread | Holographic recreations of dead people | Robots are dominating the battlefield
2035-2040 - The final collapse of the European Union | Russia is a global food superpower
2036 - In-vitro meat is a rapidly growing industry | Alzheimer’s disease is fully curable | Bionic eyes surpassing human vision | Detailed probing and mapping of the Kuiper Belt is underway
2037 - The U.S. Air Force introduces a new stealth bomber | Quantum computers are widely available | The world's largest mud volcano stops erupting
2038 - Older computers are at risk of experiencing major software malfunctions | Capital punishment has greatly declined in use | Teleportation of complex organic molecules | The FIFA World Cup trophy is replaced
2039 - Full immersion virtual reality | Universal translators are ubiquitous | Nanotech fabrics are ubiquitous | Australia's national symbol, the Koala, faces extinction | Five-year survival rates for leukaemia are approaching 100% | The U.S. population reaches 400m | Extreme heatwaves are commonplace in the U.S.
2040-2049 timeline contents
2040 - India's economy is rivalling that of China and the U.S. | Fusion power is nearing commercial availability | "Energy islands" are widespread in coastal regions | Less than two-thirds of the original Congo jungle remains standing | Virtual telepathy is dominating personal communications | Biorepository and genomic information systems are transforming healthcare | Pollen counts have more than doubled | Tobacco has been largely eradicated | Claytronics are revolutionising consumer products | Breakthroughs in carbon nanotube production | China's HSR network has been greatly expanded | Completion of the Northeast Corridor high-speed rail route
2041 - Global average temperatures have risen by 2°C | Orbital solar power is commercially feasible
2042 - Global population reaches 9 billion | White people are a minority in the USA
2043 - Slovenia closes down its only nuclear power plant
2044 - A tipping point for permafrost melting | The last veterans of WW2 are passing away | A transglobal highway and rail network has emerged | Five-year survival rates for bowel cancer are approaching 100%
2045 - Humans are becoming intimately merged with machines | The Chūō Shinkansen high speed maglev route is complete | Gulf Coast cities are being abandoned due to super hurricanes
2045-2049 - China transitions towards a democracy | Major extinctions of animal and plant life
2046 - The UK state pension age has risen to 70
2047 - Fully autonomous, intelligent military aircraft | Unmanned probe to 2060 Chiron
2048 - The Antarctic Treaty comes up for review | Reversible biostasis is available | The near-Earth asteroid 2007 VK184 makes a close pass
2049 - Robots are a common feature of homes and workplaces | The Dead Sea is drying up | The effects of heat stress on labour capacity have doubled
2050-2059 timeline contents
2050 - Humanity is at a crossroads | Nearly half of the Amazon rainforest has been deforested | Wildfires have tripled in some regions | Traditional wine industries have been severely altered by climate change | Fish body size has declined by nearly a quarter | Hi-tech, intelligent buildings are revolutionising the urban landscape | Smaller, safer, hi-tech automobiles | Major advances in air travel comfort | Continent-wide "supergrids" provide much of the world's energy needs | China completes the largest water diversion project in history
2051 - An interstellar radio message arrives at Gliese 777 | Britain holds its centennial national exhibition
2053 - Moore's Law reaches stunning new levels | Genetically engineered "designer babies" for the rich
2054 - Rainfall intensity has increased by 20%
2055 - Spaceflight has taken a leap forward | The vast majority of countries have achieved democracy | Global population is reaching a plateau | Traditional media have fragmented and diversified
2056 - Global average temperatures have risen by 3°C | Fully synthetic humans are becoming technically feasible
2057 - Computers reach another milestone | Handheld MRI scanners
2058 - The Beatles' music catalogue enters the public domain | A radio telescope is built on the Moon
2059 - The end of the oil age | Mars has a permanent human presence by now
2060-2069 timeline contents
2060-2100 - Global political and economic systems are in a period of immense transition
2060 - Flood barriers are erected in New York | Tropical cyclones are wreaking havoc in the Mediterranean | Global extinction rates are peaking | An aging population | Helium-3 mining on the Moon | Technology has transformed modern education
2061 - Halley's Comet returns | The UK population reaches 80 million
2062 - Nanofabricators are a mainstream consumer product
2064 - IT's share of the US economy reaches 20%
2065 - Longevity treatments that can halt aging | Self-assembling buildings made entirely from nanotech | Invisibility suits are in military use | Insurance crisis
2067 - The first generation of antimatter-powered spacecraft is emerging | Male and female salaries are reaching parity
2068 - A major landmark in the world of athletics
2069 - 100th anniversary of Apollo 11 | The U.S. population reaches half a
2070-2079 timeline contents
2070 - Global average temperatures have risen by 4°C | Fusion power is widespread | Fully automated homes | Expansion of Moon bases | Five-year survival rates for liver cancer are approaching 100%
2072 - Advanced nanotech clothing | Picotechnology is becoming practical
2074 - The Green Wall of China is completed
2075 - The ozone layer has fully recovered | The Thames Barrier is upgraded
2076 - Accurate simulations of viruses | Unmanned probes to Sedna
2079 - Practical flying cars are widespread | Total solar eclipse in New York
2080-2089 timeline contents
2080 - Some humans are more non-biological than biological | Construction of a transatlantic tunnel is underway | Polar bears face extinction | One in five lizard species are extinct | Deadly heatwaves plague Europe; traditional agriculture is decimated
2082 - The USA cedes territory to Mexico
2083 - Hyper-intelligent computers
2084 - Androids are entering law enforcement
2085 - Five-year survival rates for brain tumours are reaching 100% | Global currency | Macro-scale teleportation is achieved
2085-2089 - Manned exploration of the Jovian system
2090-2099 timeline contents
2090 - Religion is fading from European culture| Hypersonic vactrains are widespread
2092 - West Antarctica is among the fastest growing areas in the world
2095 - Many of the world's languages are no longer in use | Manned exploration of the Saturnian system
2099 - Sea levels are wreaking havoc around the world | Over 80% of the Amazon rainforest has been lost